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I Had Considerable Knowledge of Jewish People in War Fieldmarshal Lord Allenby Says Addressing Jewis

November 9, 1931
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Many of you were my comrades in Palestine, Fieldmarshal Lord Allenby, the conqueror of Palestine, said, speaking to-day at the second Jewish ex-servicemen’s National Armistice Service held on the Horse Guards’ Parade in Whitehall. 5,000 Jewish officers and men, wearing their decorations, marched past the Cenotaph, and two Jewish holders of Victoria Cross, Lieutenant Keysor and Private Jack White, placed a wreath on the Cenotaph in the form of a Magen David, in memory of the British Jews who fell in the war.

The Chief Rabbi, Dr. J. H. Hertz, recited the Armistice Prayer.

I am glad to say that I had considerable knowledge of Jewish people in the War, Lord Allenby went on. I met a great many of them in Palestine and with them we managed to bring off a very respectable job. we freed the Holy City from the dominion of the Turk- the City that was the birthground of the world – Christian, Jewish and Moslem. All those faiths were represented in the army I was proud to command. There were men of different nations, colours, and creeds, but everyone was united by one feeling – that of duty to country, Empire and King. And there was not a man throughout that campaign who failed in that duty.

Viscount Allenby has written his name in the annals of light, in the annals of history, the Chief Rabbi said. He had linked his name with an eternal cause, with the name of the Eternal City of the eternal people.

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